While I describe this as "Cannon Fodder meets Operation Flashpoint," others have their own descriptions. If you dig controlling a teeny tiny soldier on massive battlefields alongside many dozens of AI Cannon Fodder-looking troops, this is your game. If not, then not.

RWR is an open world, top-down, tactical shooter for single player and multiplayer online, that puts you right in the middle of chaos in towns, trenches and forests turned into ruthless battlefields, controlling just one soldier in an army of several hundreds.

In a war where men die like flies and endless streams of reinforcements run to fill the void, it takes tactics and marksmanship to capture territories effectively. The open world nature of the game enables you to use a multitude of approaches to help the front line move – it’s up to you to shape your role. Experience the complete arc starting as a private hardening into a high ranking officer with a squad under command, arming yourself with a variety of weapons and vehicles on your way to glory!

Key features, so far8x 1 km^2 maps with total of 62 bases-hundreds of simultaneous AI soldiers-open world: it’s up to you how you play, the war goes on without you-not your usual “I’m the hero”-shooter: one bullet kills more often than not-use cover, crouch and prone, move with others to increase your odds to stay alive-emergent AI that tries hard: they too use cover and rooftops, attempt outflanking-gain XP to get promotions to lead your own squad, unlock items & calls-a broad variety of faction specific weapons-grenades, bazookas, remote detonable sticky C4, riot shields, medikits, vests, rare weapons-mortar strikes, paratrooper reinforcements, vehicle drops-jeeps, transport trucks, APC’s, boats, tanks, patrol ships with AI driving-deploy cover elements to strengthen your fellows’ positions or use vehicles for mobile cover-campaign and quick matches, with Map Capture or King of the Hill game modes-locate & destroy the radio truck/tower behind enemy lines, or steal their cargo truck and deliver it home-Windows and Linux supported-24/7 servers in Europe and USA supporting 30+ players

I had tried the crude earlier version of the demo over on Desura. The full version on Steam is way more fun than I remembered, though it took me a couple days to get something resembling proficient at it. I don't seem to be anywhere near running a squad yet.

While it supports online play, I've not tried it just yet. Still just working at getting more kills than getting killed.

I compared it to Flashpoint because the battlefields become massive, and you can drive it seems just about any vehicle where the driver's seat is free, or else catch a ride on an AI-driven vehicle.

You really are just a nobody grunt -- every time you die, you respawn at the nearest respawn point with another generic name. It seemed like I was respawning with my latest weapon equipped eventually, not sure if that's tied into rank or something. A backpack lets you keep extra weapons/equipment to a point (depending on rank) though you seem to lose all that when offed.

looks interesting. how realistic is the health and armor modeled? OpFlash is one of the more punishing tactical shooters, so I'd expect to die more than kill in this game. and how is that handled? respawn somewhere new? reload from checkpoint/save or start fresh?

looks interesting. how realistic is the health and armor modeled? OpFlash is one of the more punishing tactical shooters, so I'd expect to die more than kill in this game. and how is that handled? respawn somewhere new? reload from checkpoint/save or start fresh?

Sorry - I'm not saying that a game with tiny soldiers the size of a fingernail has Operation Flashpoint style statistics per se. I'm certainly dying a helluva lot, but I'm also getting better after just a couple hours or so of play.

Here's a peek at my comical stats so far...

I just meant reminded me of Operation Flashpoint in terms of being on a massive battlefield with stuff going on all over the map. You're notified of key, well, "flashpoints" on the map, but you're free to go running off anywhere that interests you. You can run along with the hordes as they tackle the signified objectives, or you can lone wolf it or take a squad (as you rank, you can gradually get 1, 2, 3 etc. soldiers to join you as your squad and give basic orders).

Here's a map example. This battle has multiple factions (you're green, the greys are one faction and the browns seem to be a more skilled [higher ranking troops] faction).Battles are really fluid, so just because your forces take one objective doesn't mean it'll stay in your hands. I had a helluva time keeping the airfield on the southern side of the map. The brown forces kept flowing in from the west and sometimes air dropping airborne troops.

A meter on the bottom of the screen (and a notification beeper when you're about to take over an objective area) lets you know when your forces are reaching the critical mass necessary to take an objective area. And then this is indicated on the map via the colors.

Armories are here and there, and there you can 'F' key it to change your loadout and backpack items (there's a simple XP system to determine what you have access to). I guess the thing to keep in mind is you lose those goodies when you die (your new troop will have your main, secondary and a medkit, and that's it). But you can pick up anything, friend or foe, off the battlefield, IF you have the XP level necessary to equip it. Your guys get stuff like M16, M60 etc.; grey gets HK36s (I think mostly European weapons), I think browns get AK47s and other Russian weapons.

If you equip the body armor from armory (it won't take up a grenade spot; uses its own body armor slot I think), you seem to have a better chance of just getting wounded if shot (grenades still one shot you). It's very fun to watch AI troops yell "HOLD ON!" and then crawl or dash over to you to try to heal you. But often the would-be medic and I just get shot at the same time.

afik ammo for your firearms are infinite in terms of clips (you do have to reload, and different weapons have different reload times). Special weapons like RPGs I think you only can use once and then it's removed from inventory. Grenades seem to include frag, impact and stun. Equipment includes deployable cover (basically you take a couple seconds to drop a large box in the field), a SWAT-like shield I haven't really figured out how to use well, and an expensive fixed machine gun.

Also like OFP, you can drive a tank, a jeep, a truck, a boat, a rubber boat (no aircraft yet). You can hop onto an AI-driven tank and man the turret cupola machine gun which is fun as hell. Catch a ride on a jeep and you can fire while riding. Or you can try to runover enemies, not as easy as it sounds.

Or the vehicles are just helpful in terms of reaching far off objectives and transfer points faster. I'm not sure the game engine could really portray airborne units (the parachuting airborne troops are fun but I mean like a helicopter or something would be tough to do in this) but that would be cool.

Here's me manning a tank's MG, lot of fun. More fun if the AI driver didn't seem to know where he wanted to go.

The health system in RWR is not the usual one most might be used to from many other shooters as you don't "take damage" in the traditional sense.

In fact every bullet can kill at any moment. You don't have the usual health bar or any other indication for that matter.Every weapon has a different kill probability which is around 50% average but can be up to 100% for some precise weapons like sniper rifles, e.g. if those hit you, you are dead.

However, there is a vestment type item in-game that comes a bit closer to a health-point system, the vest.

It gives you 3 "extra-lifes". Those vests can be bought at the armory and can also be worn by some AI soldiers. A vest icon is shown on the right side of the grenade slot. You can recognize a vest-carrier by a darker vest model around his torso like on the picture below:

In the table below those 3 stages of the vest status are listed below:Hud vest.png The vest is not damaged. The next LETHAL bullet to hit you will be fully absorbed as if nothing had happened.Hud vest hole1.png You have been hit once by a lethal bullet. The next LETHAL bullet to hit you will cause you to be stunned for a few seconds.Hud vest hole2.png You have been hit twice. The next LETHAL bullet will consume your vest entirely and you will fall into a wounded state where you can only recover if a soldier (or player) with a medikit heals you. While you are wounded you can still crawl into cover and call for a medic (pressing the left mouse button). If you have the feeling that there is noone around, you can commit suicide by holding the knife key down for 3 seconds, otherwise you will die automatically from your wounds after 30 seconds. Notice that you can still use radio calls while wounded which might be useful for calling paratroopers and hopefully a medic to patch you up

My only beef is once I die, I don't have the best anymore and it isn't always fun to run the length of the map to an armory to re-equip. I would've liked to have maybe had a lighter vest always on as default, something like that?

I see mp is part of this as well. Maybe we should start up a gt dedicated server to play on.

I haven't tried yet. It sounds fun (seems to be both co-op and adversarial type modes, supporting up to 30 players i think), and they claim to have dedicated public servers but everything I can see on the list seems password protected, so I'm a little confused on that atm.

*Zoom in on the battle map and "world" map with mouse wheel or +/- keys:-They promise more maps but what's there is already very large and diverse, fwiw.-White arrow boxes denote transfer points to connected maps. You just want to pay a bit of attention on this world map to what your greenies have already taken full control over so you don't "warp" to "old" maps you already completed.

*The "role playing" comes into play partially on using RP points for these radio "call in support" commands (default is H key). Very cool, often very handy. Reinforcements drop in by parachute.

*Mortar support is cool to watch and what's great is even if you're wounded -- if wounded you can drag your butt around, using your hands, and the LMB calls for medical help but you can't fire weapons -- you can still crawl around, tap the radio key and call in for anything you have the RP for. I am not really certain if the artillery target point is where your guy is, or if it's related to your crosshairs.

I called in both of these mortar blasts while crawling around wounded. I think by "one round," it means several mortars firing one round in unison.

And the parachute reinforcements, very fun to watch. I'm still at the rank where I can only lead two other soldiers of lesser rank, squad-wise.

I refer to the below map point/objective as "the meat grinder," as we just couldn't quite break through to take the camp. I tried leading a couple guys up from an entry south but we couldn't really do much. It has a "gore slider," I turned it up fairly high. You can effectively turn it off, and adjust how long bodies stay on the battlefield, etc.

I've gotten several Early Access games lately so I'm trying to cut back and just wait till release, but what you've been posting may change my mind. Thanks for posting all this info, I know it takes some time and effort to enter all the text and collect and process the screenshots, so I just want you to know that it's appreciated.

I've gotten several Early Access games lately so I'm trying to cut back and just wait till release, but what you've been posting may change my mind. Thanks for posting all this info, I know it takes some time and effort to enter all the text and collect and process the screenshots, so I just want you to know that it's appreciated.

Thanks, much appreciated. It's no fun without an audience, which is what GT forums kindly provide. Yeah this game has been in development more than two years and while they still promise all sorts of neat additional features, along with three additional maps, it's almost a misnomer to call it "Early Access." I mean, it is in terms of the small dev wanting lots of feedback on additional features to add, but I don't see it as one of these really crude early access titles that kind of give "Early Access" a bad name.

I also flap my gums about Grim Dawn, Door Kickers and Assault Android Cactus, not because they're perfect or complete but I really think in terms of fun factor and being relatively stable to play, they give Early Access a better name (imho). Rather than "hey here's our buggy, broken, messed up Early Access title - give us money and maybe it won't be screwed up at some point." I've bought those kinds of games myself. I don't think Early Access needs to mean that, but that's the rep due to several bad apples.

Here's your basic armory lineup (I think on the campaign maps, the armory offerings can differ just a bit; on one we seemed to get a 3-round burst bullpup rifle) -- this is from the splash screen where you're just a private (rather than your savegame, progressing character), so that's why the red marks denote what you aren't capable of using yet.*For all weaponry you get access to, I generally find the default M16 most effective. The one-use TOW is of course good for vehicles but is also good for blowing pesky enemies out of cover. While the game is not Company of Heroes destructible (if it ever is, that would be so awesome ) but vehicles do blow up quite good.*I think the medkit would be more useful in co-op. I haven't figured out much use for the C4 now - I suspect if they add more sabotage-type objectives later on, it'd be good for that. As mentioned, adept use of the shield eludes me - I'm afraid I'm not Steve Rogers. *When you use the M60 machine gun (or is that a SAW?), you automatically dive and go prone when you start firing. It has 200 round capacity and is not terribly accurate.

The weapon swapping is pretty quick. You hit the F key (configurable) to pull up this screen. If you want to change to a weapon in your backpack, you left click the weapon in the pack and it swaps. While you can carry lots of stuff, it slows you down (the % number indicates how overloaded you are), and since you're gonna die frequently, I don't tend to pack rat too much. I do always equip the body armor from armory if available.

RWR has a cool auto-cover system though often I find it just as effective to "run and shoot" or to shoot while crouched/prone. If you press against any type of object (doesn't work so good with some tree types), you'll go into "cover mode" like above.

In theory, you should be able to fire around the corner and then when you stop, you're back in cover. I sometimes seem to be shooting into the cover itself though.

Finally drove a tank. If you've got an AI Squaddie manning the gun (there seem to be 3 positions - driver, main gunner, top turret cupola machine gunner), you can give some general instructions -- seems like you right click on the tank itself for "Fire at Will"; and then right click on enemies or general areas to direct them to fire at specific things. I don't think they'll fire unless enemies are there.

You can fill a jeep with 4 guys (driver and 3 soldiers who can fire while riding). While this sounds awesome, the AI is just too smart and will promptly blow up your jeep with an RPG or hand grenades. Which can be too funny in this game.

Forgot about my Twitch account. I'm recording some longer vids there that should be amusing while I replay at the Hard difficulty level

Here's about a half hour of me dying repeatedly in a co-op game this afternoon. It's fun but I can see co-op would be more fun with a few people actually fighting alongside each other and working together. Otherwise, it's not much different than the single player slaughter if nobody's working together.

Some multiplayer things:*They do have some official, persistent (keeps your ranking from game to game) co-op servers*Where it says to put in a password, that's to offer some simple protection for your username for rank tracking (NOT a server password, they said at forums)*"T" is Faction chat; chat bubbles*Players have different color toy soldier icons on the map, and each has a different color/shape highlight under his soldier in game.*Use F1 key to both see stats and see a traditional chat screen. Not sure others in my game realized that.

*Aaand watching another player taught me you can melee (V key) boxes to get some equipment drops out of them.

Couple more videos from massive co-op multiplayer sessions tonight (24-30+ players). It's fun, but I just can't stay alive enough (you lose XP for dying and friendly fire), and you need like 500 XP or RP or whatever to get promoted in rank. Not sure I'll ever get there in MP games.

Did learn a lot chatting with other players. Like you can eventually pick loot up and turn it in at the armory for the XP/RP whatever and gives you essentially more coinage to spend on equipment/weapons. Not sure I understand if what you can use is based on rank, or if it's based on that XP/RP stuff. Will have to study the wiki more.

Certain transport trucks provide a mobile spawning point.

For sure you see lots of comments from new players impressed by the AI. One even kept asking if it was a pvp game but you could tell from the F1 stats score we were the only human players. The brown forces (Russian, basically, in terms of weaponry) seem noticeably more brutal than the grey ones.

Expanded armory in a multiplayer game. Unfortunately, I can't use squat. XP means points towards your ranking promotions; RP refers to "resource points," which seems to refer to how much equipment and what equipment you can use (each weapon/equipment has an "RP" number assigned).

MP map. Every player has his own color soldier but they really need to not use blue so much imho. Another player said they're working on that.

Stats screen. Alas, only 24 can fit so when there are more players and you're blah like me you can't even see your MP stats.

Manning the cupola MG while another player drove the tank was as fun as i thought it'd be.

BJ blathers with other players. Lazy-Bone had a bit of an attitude.

And just now realized from reading the chat that junk items on ground like cigs, beer bottles, magazine (the kind you read), etc. can be turned in at armories for RP. It's just, as a private I don't think I even have any backpack space whatsoever.

Hopefully they'll do a more detailed tutorial at some point. I had no clue the yellow points on the map were selectable spawn points.

I guess Lazy-Bone is right -- if you actually want to progress in the game, you want to sort of "nibble" at the edges and tackle solo AI soldiers or small groups. To me it's more fun to charge or try to flank a big group but unless you have a lot of support you just end up losing a lot of XP and not progressing in ranks.

Following the community guide and wiki tips and info, I got a lot... less bad... in co-op last night. I think really the key is to get away from treating it like Cannon Fodder and towards trying to get killed as least often as possible. Sometimes easier said than done.

I found a key way to rack up the XP is to get in a tank on the MG or main gun and blast away while someone else drives. Or with the gunboats, players have found if they beach them close to enemy territory, the gunboat missile launchers will continuously fire on their own. At one point I hopped into a beached gunboat and manned one of its MGs, and just kept blasting away and racking up XP. While the AI soldiers are fairly smart -- they'll sort of hunker down under heavy suppressing fire -- they still kept trying to send solders w/ RPGs towards the gunboat, which made for easy pickings.

After being stuck around 100XP all Sunday, I made it to 500 XP, which is supposed to promote you to corporal, though I didn't see a notifier about that in game.

I really find this game does combined tactics (infantry working alongside/behind tanks or APCs) as good as anything I've played. Had some awesome moments last night working alongside tanks to help us infantry grunts break through tough areas.

You have to try not to get squashed, but they provide good cover and need some infantry help in fending off RPG soldiers. It seems more fun if the guy driving the tank realizes that he needs infantry support -- and thus doesn't outrun player soldiers or run over them -- than when someone "lone wolfs" it and charges into enemy strongholds just to get blown up promptly.

started playing this last night and it's a lot of fun. chaotic at first but you start to get used to the flow of combat pretty quickly. it pays to take it cautiously as you are fragile. cover, crouching and going prone are your friends. also, knowing that reloading makes you extremely vulnerable as you slow to walking speed.